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Optimal Foraging

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Octopamine influences honey bee foraging preference.

Tugrul Giray¹, Alberto Galindo-Cardona, Devrim Oskay

¹Department of Biology, University of Puerto Rico, PO Box 23360, San Juan, PR 00931, USA. tgiray2@yahoo.com

Journal of Insect Physiology

|June 19, 2007

Summary

Octopamine, a neurochemical, alters honey bee foraging preferences in the field. This study shows octopamine treatment caused bees to collect different forage types, unlike control groups.

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Area of Science:

Behavioral Ecology
Neuroethology
Insect Physiology

Background:

Individual bee foraging preferences are influenced by colony needs and internal states.
Octopamine is a known neuromodulator in insects, affecting behaviors like foraging onset and communication in honey bees.
Previous research has not causally linked octopamine to specific foraging *preferences* in field conditions.

Purpose of the Study:

To test if octopamine levels influence the type of forage honey bees collect.
To investigate the causal relationship between octopamine and foraging preference in a naturalistic setting.

Main Methods:

Individual honey bee foragers were treated orally with octopamine, tyramine (a precursor), or a sucrose syrup control.
The type of material collected by each bee was recorded before and after treatment.
Sugar concentrations of collected nectar samples were analyzed to quantify preference changes.

Main Results:

Honey bees treated with octopamine significantly switched the type of material they collected.
Bees treated with tyramine or the control syrup did not show a change in collected forage type.
Octopamine treatment led to the collection of nectar with lower sugar concentrations, indicating a shift in preference.

Conclusions:

Octopamine directly influences and alters honey bee foraging preferences in the field.
The findings support the hypothesis that neurochemical changes, specifically in octopamine levels, can modify individual foraging choices.
This provides a physiological basis for understanding dynamic shifts in bee collection behavior.